User talk:Zarevak
__TOC__ Greetings from Angies Hi Zarevak! You are really doing some great work on this wiki. Let me know if they is anything I can help out with! angies (talk) 21:03, 2 November 2007 (UTC) : Hi Angies, thank you for your support. I'm fighting with some technical difficulties. Some pictures are not uploaded correctly and reuploading them doesn't help - the whole image article is then doomed. It is interesting that viewing older versions of the image displays correct image, but reverting doesn't solve the problem. The affected images are: :* Image:Blade.png :* Image:Knowledge.png :* Image:Flamethrower.png - this image can be deleted, because it is not used - correct image is Image:Flame Thrower.png :Can you please also delete Template:Logoicon? I created it not knowing there is already existing template for Logos icons here. :I have two more questions: :#Is there possibility for me to delete articles in my user space? User:Zarevak/Logos/THt,User:Zarevak/Logos/T2t and User:Zarevak/Logos/TMt should be deleted. :#There is article Engineering:Thermodynamics, but there cannot be Image with the same name, as the MediaWiki software automatically changes colons ':' to hyphens '-' (the image is now at Image:Engineering-Thermodynamics.png. This name change is only done on upload, but not when I reference to this image. Is there way to automaticaly convert colons ':' to hyphens '-' using template, some parser function or extension? (spaces ' ' are already on the fly converted to low lines '_') : → Zarevak 22:38, 2 November 2007 (UTC) :: It's not clear to me what was wrong with the images, but they seem fine to me at the moment. :: As for deletion, you can't delete your own pages. Generally, deleting pages isn't something to focus on except for special cases like intentional redlinks, typos in title, etc. :: Changing the article name would be the easier solution, since it avoids meddling in pseudo-namespaces. If that's not an option, you can use from StringFunctions. :: - Dashiva 00:47, 5 November 2007 (UTC) ::: I've just retested the image problem. The images work fine in Opera. They don't work in article pages in Firefox, but can be displayed by using full image URL. In Internet Explorer these 3 images don't work at all. :( ::: Thank you for pointing up the StringFunctions extension. I didn't know about it. I was already thinking about using some special system for changing the image names similar as Itemref and Logosref templates are for. (I'm against these templates and I'm slowly working on removing the need for them) ::: → Zarevak 02:06, 5 November 2007 (UTC) :::: I've just tried in IE7 and FF2, and the images show up and look as expected. Could it be a caching issue on your end? :::: As I believe you've noticed before, there is a hard limit on the number of template inclusions that can be done on any single page. Therefore culling redundant templates, especially nested ones, is always a Good Thing ™. On the same note, keep in mind that the StringFunctions calls might count as inclusions. :::: - Dashiva 02:37, 5 November 2007 (UTC) ::::: Thank you for your patience. The culprits were AdBlocker plugins I'm using in my IE (IE7Pro) and FF (Adblock Plus) :( ::::: I haven't yet run into the template inclusions limit. The second problem with images are short Logos names (Is, It, ...) as this wiki forbids uploading of images with such short filenames. My first icon (PNG) naming idea was to name all icons same as the article with the exception of Logos Elements, which are named without the (logos) part. I've already managed to solve Trap (logos) vs Trap (ability) and Lightning (logos) vs Lightning (ability) issue, but now I've run into Fire (logos) vs Fire damage and Ice (logos) vs Ice damage - moving the Fire.png to Fire damage.png would need to move EMP.png to Electromagnetic pulse damage.png as per User:Zarevak/Icons/Damages, which is not very user firendly :(a On the other side here is no official ingame name for EMP damage so we can rename the article to EMP damage or EM damage as the P''' meaning '''Pulse is form of delivery and not type of damage. Thinking about it Electromagnetic damage is the best name for the article. ::::: → Zarevak 03:32, 5 November 2007 (UTC) Game data I notice you're already well into taking apart some primary data sources but only give the results. It might be too deep into the grey area for the wiki, if so is there an alternate community? - Dashiva 00:48, 5 November 2007 (UTC) : I'm using the game data file as sources for clear versions of the icons. Someone was already doing this, because many icons were uploaded in the same format before I came to this wiki. : As for the Logos list I put up a few hours ago: I've already noticed other websites are putting up similar logos list and I've also found out that some Logos articles on this wiki were based on information found on other websites and not based on the game content. I'm hoping this list will help us to clear up all the logos articles and standardize their formating. : I'm not going to do any reverse engineering of the game or change the game in any way. I'm just using the game data as reliable source of game information and it's much easier to copy and paste text from game files than to rewrite it from the game. (You can extract trpython.zip data/game.zip, search in the extracted files for a part of the text you are trying to rewrite and copy the text to the wiki ) The only problem I see is, that the game data includes some unpublished work in progress (like the Mycon planet icon)... : → Zarevak 01:51, 5 November 2007 (UTC) ::: I'm sorry I've mislead you - all ingame text is in the data/game.zip file. → Zarevak 04:00, 5 November 2007 (UTC) :: I'm all for it myself, I just tend to err on the side of caution until there's safe ground to stand on. I still haven't managed to find the images, though. My experience lies in text mode. :) - Dashiva 02:29, 5 November 2007 (UTC) ::: Image files are little bit more tricky. The icons are stored in data/ui.glm file. The file is stream of many DDS files one after another. At the end of the GLM file there is table of filenames which can be used for reconstructing the original filenames and for understanding what each icon represents. ::: To extract the DDS files I'm using homemade tool in C# (.Net). After the extraction I just convert the biggest mipmap in the DDS to PNG for uploading to this wiki. ::: BTW: data/ui_map.glm contains images of all maps, but without any labels :( We are doing much better with ingame screenshots that contains labels and POI icons. ::: BTW: data/''lqimage0''x.glm contains textures for ingame objects, which are useless for this wiki. ::: I haven't extracted any other gamefiles. ::: → Zarevak 03:54, 5 November 2007 (UTC) :::: Well, thanks for the pointers. Saved me a lot of fumbling in the dark. :) - Dashiva 09:35, 5 November 2007 (UTC) :::: I've managed to separate out the images from the stream, but how do you know you've reached the filename table? I haven't found an easy way to calculate the size of a DDS file yet, so I just split when I find a DDS header. This obviously doesn't work for the table. And do you know if there is anything useful in the data following the filenames? - Dashiva 14:26, 5 November 2007 (UTC) ::::: The DDS files are shorter then from one header to another, because the files are padded with NULL characters. I've just attached an email to my wikia account so you should be able to sent me email through this wiki with your email and I will send you my tool with its C# sourcecode. If you want to dig through GLM files yourself, there are some hints: :::::* Moved to: User:Zarevak/GLM ::::: With this data you should be able to decode the GLM files with ease. ::::: → Zarevak 09:33, 6 November 2007 (UTC) :::::: Heh, I spent all of yesterday writing a parser that could recognize DDS, TGA (I now officially hate formats that put the magic word at the end of the file) and JPG (Add formats that don't have a length but force you to jump from segment to segment to the list) and pick out only the non-padding data for each. Found out too late the filename table isn't synced with the order of the file data. It was a good exercise anyhow. :::::: But yeah, now that I know there's a FAT it should be almost trivial. Combined with me using plain-ole' C and not C#, I think I'll pass on the source. Thanks for the offer, though. - Dashiva 11:18, 6 November 2007 (UTC) ::::::: I'm always trying to find the easiest solution and trying to understand the files inside GLM wasn't looking like so. Now I have one tool to extract the files from the GLM. Next I use tool from NVIDIA's DDS Utilities package to convert the DDS files into TGA files of all mipmaps inside the DDS. Lastly I use another tool I've writen to convert the TGA files (with Alpha channel) to PNG files in batches. I tried other ways of extracting the icons from the game (and from the DDS files), but I always kept loosing the Alpha channel :( ::::::: I was offering the source code with my tool for you to be able to check, what you are running and or compile it for yourself with full control over the source code - In todays word its hard to trust executables downloaded from the internet. ::::::: If you find any new information (eg.: about the last 6 bytes in FAT each record or anything about the second file size) let me know ;). ::::::: → Zarevak 11:45, 6 November 2007 (UTC) Great work Just wanted to let you know you are doing a great job from what I can tell. If there is anything you could use a hand with, feel free to let me know. reverend@theconclave.org -Witchboon * I second that. just lemme get into it and i'll post some more walkthru that people can improve upon.--Stargrazer 15:45, 8 November 2007 (UTC) :: Thank you both for your appreciation. It means a lot for me. I have to thank you as well as both of you have done lot of good work here :). Feel free to continue writing Walktrhoughs or any other guides, item/monster/npc/... descriptions. My English is not my primary language and I'm not good at writing so I'm trying to help by using my technical skills - updating templates, automatizing some tasks, updating articles to have same design, ... :: I hope more users will come and help us with this wiki as it needs clearing up from the outdated information and standardizing the article styles. I feel a bit sad for user with IP ‎ as he did a great job clearing up the articles of abilities and we aren't able to thank him or encourage him and give him support for more of his good work. :: → Zarevak 16:09, 8 November 2007 (UTC) Map vs Minimap http://dashiva.net/misc/ui_radar_1378_0_24.png I see two of you are extracting artwork from the source files. I have yet to bother looking around, however I have an idea/request. Can the map images used for the minimap be extracted? This is a much more detailed version then the ingame map and could be very useful for showing more detailed quest/location/mob information. Thanks in advance. reverend@theconclave.org : Only maps I found are form Map images. I wasn't able to find minimap images yet and I don't know if there are any - they may be created from vector data by the game. As I wrote before the Map images are not very useful, because they don't contain any points of interest or labels. We are doing much better with ingame screenshots. (But if you want to have a look how the maps in game data looks like, I can upload one - for some skilled artist they may be useful as clean source for his/her work.) : → Zarevak 16:09, 8 November 2007 (UTC) :: I'll reply here instead of on my own talk page to keep the discussion coherent. Is this image the kind you were thinking of? If so they exist, but can be a bit tricky to use as the full map is chopped into 64 subimages (8x8 grid). On the other hand there are also separate minimap images for caves and structures, which is very practical. The images are found in data/ui_radar/. - Dashiva 20:29, 8 November 2007 (UTC) ::::: Any source file would be helpful. I am, however, curious were the minimap artwork comes from. Hm. Yes, whatever source files for map would be helpful. That and the icons used on maps/minimaps. I wonder if there is a way to take coords from a wiki article and auto-draw waypoint icon onto a standard blank map. Probably not via wiki, though. :( -Khajja :::::: Thank you for pointing out the location of minimap images. I've uploaded all Wilderness maps available in the game files: :::::: :::::: If the images are proven useful we can upload maps for other zones. I don't know why there are two versions of Wilderness minimap images - they are different only in a few pixels by value of 1-3 in RGB. :::::: → Zarevak 23:29, 8 November 2007 (UTC) ::::::: These are MUCH higher resolution! I think these would assist in more detailed Walkthroughs and Strategies for anyone wishing to draw over top of them. I am sure there are a million uses. -Khajja Software (in relation to previous post) Do you have the software to examine the .glm files in the TR directories? If so, feel free to share. I can do tons of work while I'm @work so... I could use a ton of artwork from the source. Your call. Khajja Adding a Logos I added the Logos "These" (no, not "Those")and I believe I followed the template correctly. I even clicked on the purge link. So far, it isn't updating. Can you make sure I did it right, and if not let me know what was wrong. Thanks. - Khajja : Hi Khajja, thanks for finding the These logo location. I've updated the task list to be more clear about the process. The Logos locations are not automatically added to their Zone lists as there are two problems with automatizing: :* The DynamicPageList extension on wikia is an older version and have some bugs in it (like categories with spaces are not handled properly as child categories of other categories - solved in 1.3.4). Also possibilities of formating the output of the DynamicPageList extension is limited with the current version. :** Is there way, how to ask wikia to update the extension? If the extension is updated, we may be able to automatize the whole Logos list and list of Logos under each Zone article. :* When the Logos shrine is found on more locations we need to include such articles twice/thrice - but to different Zone lists and with different parameters. I'm not sure, if this is possible with DynamicPageList extension :→ Zarevak 14:14, 10 November 2007 (UTC) ::From what I can tell the wikia sysops should be accommodating. However, it may be a technical issue as to why they haven't updated it. If you present it to them as the wiki community has to do sooooo much more work and additional page creations/edits, they may be up for the task. Khajja :::: angies showed support for this wiki so let's try to ask her. She may be able to arrange the update or point as to the direction we need to take to update the extension. ::* Why aren't you a sysop of this particular wiki? :-) :::: I'm just a regular user here as I joined just few(3) weeks ago. I know we are missing active sysops, but I don't know if I want to be the only one active sysop as it is great responsibility for one head. :::: The only problems we encountered is a need for deleting some articles and updating the Main Page. :::: I ahven't been a sysop before and I don't know the process how to become one. I don't think its right for me to tell the wiki owner: "Hey, I want to be sysop, because I rock." If you are nominating me and other users will agree with your nomination we can ask User:Imaginationac about my promotion ::::: Well, so far I see you and Dashiva doing great work. I am sure Imaginationac would welcome any assistance the two of you could provide on a higher-level of maintenance. ::* I noticed some (I think Wilderness) Logos aren't in alphabetical order. Is this a technical issue? :::: I'm following simple rule to sort the list in each Instance/Zone alphabetically. If there are more Instances the list becomes unsorted at the Zone level. The Instance order is also alphabetically sorted with the exception of Bootcamp, but I will have to remove this exception, because it creates problems for my next Logos list idea ;-) ::::→ Zarevak 14:57, 10 November 2007 (UTC) ::::: Damn database programming crap. :-)